In today’s competitive financial services landscape, regional banks and credit union marketers must go beyond traditional tactics. Fostering deep, emotional connections with your customers/members can significantly enhance customer lifetime value, advocacy, and loyalty. Mower’s recently released research revealed just how important Affection, Relevance and Trust are for driving business growth.
When A.R.T. is fostered, customers are:
2.6x more likely to recommend
When customers are more than just satisfied, they advocate for your bank or credit union. Their recommendations on social media, review platforms, or in everyday conversations can carry far more influence than traditional marketing.
3.8x more likely to buy again
For financial institutions, this means stronger product penetration and higher lifetime value. Customers with multiple accounts or services are more engaged and loyal.
3.0x more likely to accept premium pricing
With Affection, Relevance, and Trust, customers become less price-sensitive. This allows you to compete on more than just rates for products like personal loans, CDs, HYSAs, HELOCs, or mortgages.
Those are some coveted business outcomes for any bank or credit union.
The Power of Emotional Connections in Financial Services
Our research revealed a significant disconnect between what brands think and what consumers experience. For example, while 90% of executives believe customers trust their brand, only 30% of customers actually feel that way. For regional banks and credit unions, this gap can mean the difference between long-term customer loyalty and churn.
Affection: Moving Beyond Transactions
While trust and relevance are critical, Affection—the emotional bond customers form with a brand—can turn a satisfied customer into an advocate. Regional banks and credit unions often have an advantage here due to your local presence and community involvement. However, our research underscores the need for authentic, ongoing engagement to strengthen this bond. Affection can be built when brands:
- Take the time to listen and make people feel heard
- Provide an experience that goes beyond just products and services
- Have your customers’ backs
Banks and credit unions that demonstrate empathy, support local initiatives, and maintain a human touch, even in digital interactions, are more likely to inspire affection from customers.
Relevance: Meeting Customers Where They Are
Consumers today expect relevance—whether through personalized offers, timely communications, or a seamless digital experience. Our research shows that brands that anticipate customer needs engender more loyalty. Relevance can also be built when brands:
- Bring valuable expertise to meet customer needs
- Have a deep understanding of an industry and specific business
- Provide communications that are relevant to what someone needs
- Provide products and services that are customized to specific needs
For regional banks and credit unions, remaining relevant means understanding the unique needs of your customer base and offering solutions that align with customer life stages or financial goals. This can be as simple as offering financial literacy tools to younger customers or tailored retirement advice for older members, but can become more sophisticated like investing in product innovation that meets the need your customers didn’t even realize they had.
Trust: The Foundation of Lasting Relationships
By focusing on fostering Trust, you can close this gap and build deeper, more meaningful relationships with your customers. Trust is paramount, but what do we mean when we say trust? It’s a concept everyone understands, but knowing what actions will help instill it in customers/members is more difficult. In our Making Fierce Friends research, we found that Trust is built when a brand:
- Can be counted on to do what they say they will do
- Delivers within necessary timelines
- Is easy to reach and quick to respond
- Is open and transparent
- Provides easy access to the information that is needed from them
How Financial Marketers Can Get Started
Understanding the full experience of your brand is the first step in identifying opportunities to deepen Trust, Relevance and Affection – and significantly impact your bank or CU’s business outcomes. While as a marketer you rightfully focus on marketing, remember that every touchpoint with your bank or credit union has an impact: product design, customer service, digital and app interfaces, in-branch moments, how you show up in the communities you serve. What you say, what you do, what you stand for all matter. So, auditing those touchpoints with the lens of the actions that build Trust, Relevance and Affection is the perfect place to begin.
This holistic approach to brand experience aligns perfectly with our philosophy at Mower. We build authentic, meaningful connections between people and brands by helping our clients establish and deepen Affection, Relevance, and Trust – something we call Making Fierce Friends®.